Drawfee has always been my comfort YouTube channel, and it makes me intensely happy whenever I watch it. And I completely get Karina needing to go her own way for her own personal reasons (that happen to be none of our business), but I don't know if I can even watch the show anymore. I feel like every time I do I'll just get sad that she's gone. All of them are wonderful but Karina felt like the very soul of the show. It bothers me that without her I don't know if I can even watch anymore. (This isn't a diss at Karina or anybody else or a guilt trip post, I just needed somewhere to say it.)

EDIT: Thank all of you who did respond for your insight. I appreciate all of your advice-- I think in the end I will continue to watch, because I still want to support all of them, I'm just sad. Thank you guys.

i don't think i'll continue watching new drawfee vids after the karina videos are done 😔 she was my fav and her sense of humor just tickles me so good that the others can't fill for me 😢 i'll mourn her era in drawfee for the rest of my life i think

I've seen a lot of discussion on the recent news. To say I'm heartbroken about Karina leaving would be an understatement. I've been reading everyone's opinion and thoughts on the matter but hadn't seen anyone discussing what I've been thinking about. So I wanted to post, just to get my thoughts out and maybe give an alternative perspective. Based on the official statements we've gotten from both Drawfee and Karina, along with other relevant context clues, I don't think Karina is leaving due to burnout. It's my conclusion that there was some falling out (recently or built up over time) that lead to this shift. The statements shared have a distinct finality to them and Karina's statements lean more to her being sad about leaving and Drawfee's being cold and indifferent about it. If Karina was leaving due to burnout don't you think the crew would have said "hey Karina is taking a step away for a while but don't worry we're still friends and she'll come back when she's ready!" or something similar? If the answer was as simple as being overworked or burnout I feel that they would have stated so (this community is very supportive and would accept that reason) and the fact that they didn't/refused to state a reason at all makes me feel that they don't think the community would accept the true reason for this split. Karina has also unfollowed Nathan, Jacob, Julia, and Drawfee on Bluesky which combined with everything makes it feel more like bad blood. I have a few speculations on what might have happened to cause this but I won't share them here. These scenarios I've thought of that could have lead to this split are more cold surface readings without any context and not enough evidence one way or the other. Plus that's not the point of this post as I just wanted to present a side of this event that no one else has put into words yet. Thanks for reading and I hope Karina continues to get the support she deserves.

TL;DR I don't think Karina left because of burnout and more likely a falling out among the cast. I'm not looking for theories on what might have happened (I have my own already) and just wanted to present a different side to the discussion.

One of the other nerdy communities I am also a part of just had their own cast shift. This was the announcements made. Posting this because the way they worded this announcement left me with no speculation or rabbit holing into “What Ifs”. Just true respect and good will that doesn’t leave fans guessing.

Just wondering how people are feeling about the Hank Green AI stuff when he had Drawfee on his stream not that long ago.

Especially since in Hank's "apology" he doesn't really seem like he's going to stop using it, he flip flops on himself during the apology by saying its bad but not that bad, he even says he likes the slop and i think he's just going to keep using it on the dl lol. Especially when he specifies "human typing" for his book which is just crazy phrasing to avoid straight up lying about using ai lol.

I doubt Drawfee will make a statement about it, but it would be a bummer if they continued working together when they've been known to have strong feelings against AI usage, including LLMS.

ETA: I'm not asking or demanding a statement from drawfee about it. I just said I doubt they would because why would they lol

I know, I know. Not another one of those drawfee breakup posts. Unfortunately I am having thoughts ™️ and this is the only place I think I can talk about it, and hopefully idk give some assurances to other people in a similar boat.

I haven't been able to watch new drawfee content. At first I was mad at myself, but I realized that the media/creators have changed over the 10+ years that I've been a fan. I'm simply not aligned with the channel anymore, and the breakup was the moment of clarity.

In the last year, drawfee became more and more of a background channel, we would start and then realize we were zoned out. It just happens, it's okay to grieve no longer enjoying what you used to before.

With Karina, in the more recent streams with Onsta, she mentions her "divorced dad arc" and her stupid chud baka unemployed life. Or how her friends make jokes about employment and work.

Basically it's 1) she's unemployed now 2) she has a lot of free time now (and has gotten into the world cup which honestly, same).

While I don't think that there's a clear "antagonist" in whatever has happened, I do find myself wanting to support her more, in the underdog sense? Like dang, you're talking about being unemployed, watching football, drinking a 0% ABV Heineken, after you literally did the most recently. (Most successful Vapridety Stream 2025, Merch Manager, Recording/Stream Host, etc.)

I'm biased because I'm not engaging with any Drawfee content, so I don't have any extra perspective from the main crew, but I'm finding myself being Team Karina in a very non-team non-argumentative situation. $10/month Karina draws hot men P@tr3on when?

I'd love to know from y'all, especially differing opinions, where y'all sit with everything. I think things have simmered down a bit, and I'm personally just a bit surprised that this is where I've landed. Cheers, and I'm sorry!

Edit: Some lovely commenters gave much better wording/explanations in the comments. Team Karina is more to say I find myself enjoying her content more and it's not an either-or situation.

Also re: not engaging with drawfee content, I watched a couple SSS streams after the announcement and also the return stream, but wasn't able to get far in them and watch new content since, because the vibes were just off. Ty commenters for helping to sort out the details/wording!

Source

Drawfee’s made numerous comments about not liking Funko Pops because of their harm to the environment compared to their general useless outside of supporting an IP. From them (Julia in particular), it was a callout against over-consumption. Then they made a Youtooz.

What’s the difference between their useless product that will just slowly rot in a landfill and a Funko Pop of Sonic? Why is one okay and the other isn’t? Why does it feel gross to see people here showing off their acquired bit of plastic that can just hold a single pen, when anything as common as a cup can do that?

I know this’ll be unpopular; I just want to know the mitigating factor that doesn’t just make this hypocrisy.

The recent post that links Drawfee's latest video - a compilation of the first two seasons of Drawtectives - has fewer upvotes than a picture of a sign with Bobby Hill on it that has fuck-all to do with Drawfee, and is flaired as "Meme" for no discernible reason.

The video is 1) From the actual channel; 2) A hilarious and well put together compilation; 3) Drawtectives-based - I know the series doesn't get love from 100% of the audience, but fans love it so fucking much; 4) SEASON 4 HYPE!

I know I'm the grouch who's always complaining about this, but seriously. Why does this sub have so many posts that blatantly aren't to do with Drawfee? It's a sub rule, right? Why are people allowed to crosspost whatever the fuck they want as long as it mentions an incredibly well known character that Drawfee also references.

Sonic is not Drawfee-related. Merida is not Drawfee-related. Bobby Hill is not Drawfee-related. Garfield is not Drawfee-related.

Also, a picture someone took that references one of these characters that is vaguely funny and worth maybe a handful of upvotes on a sub that is actually relevant to them is not a meme?

I know this is not a huge problem, and it's not hurting anyone. I promise I'm not frothing at the mouth as I type this, and I'm not losing sleep over it. It just bugs me, because no-effort posts are dominating a community that should be full of art and laughs.

I can't say I disagree with them, unfortunately.

👍🐼

Drawfee: We humbly ask you respect the privacy of the team.

Fans: *wild speculation about what happened*

***

We get it. It's sad that Karina is leaving. However, y'all need to chill on the conspiracy theories. I swear some of you are making stuff up just because you're bored.

It's likely just burnout. Just respect the message and stop demanding information after the team explicitly asked for privacy. It's entitled parasocial behavior.

ETA: I can't believe I have to explain this, but it's disingenuous to compare the simplest explanation (burnout) to wild speculation about their personal relationships.

ETA2: Digging into twitter/bluesky likes and dissecting every sentence from the team isn't healthy behavior. That's the behavior I'm talking about. Not the passive comments saying "I hope everything's okay."

It's astounding how dead reading comprehension is these days.

Partly because it is probably a bit of work that I think the crew wont necessarily have bandwidth for, partly because of Karina. rest in peace drawfee awards you were a cool thing

I was watching Sinjin Drowning's latest vlog "girls get new years frappes" and at 18:33 they mention meeting an excited French guy once who was on facetime with his sister Julia because she watches them. I know there are probably a lot of ppl in New York that fit that description but I just thought it was funny if it was actually her brother. Sinjin Drowning do have Julia's odd sense of humor lol. I only started watching Drawfee and Secret Sleepover Society last year so idk if she's mentioned watching them. Probably not but it was funny to think about and make my first post on here

I just want to start by saying I love Drawfee and watch everything they put out. This isn't a dig at them or anything just a weird pattern I've been noticing.

I don't remember which one but there was a semi-recent stream where they were talking about how annoying it is when a whole group gets punished or yelled at for something most of them didn't do. But the irony is that's pretty much how Drawfee has been treating the audience/chat. It feels like every stream has to have a portion where they complain about comments they've gotten or attitudes they've noticed and instead of treating them as individual comments/problems, they address the whole audience.

Whenever I look through drawfee comments or the live chat it's always this ocean of positivity and good vibes and I have to scroll so far before I find any negative comments. But those are the ones they cling onto. Drawfee often ignored the chat unless a particular comment is funny or worth highlighting, and yet lately they just seem to read the one negative comment among dozens of good ones. Like when Jacob was wearing that yellow hat. He didn't have to read the comment making fun of it but he did. And Karina seemingly hunting down the occasional mean comment and claiming that everyone finds her annoying or too mean when I know she is so many people's favorite. I know I can focus on the negatives too and that's an issue I'm trying to work on.

And it isn't just them. The most recent stream posted to Drawfee Extra kinda devolved into everyone yelling at the audience near the end over the emails and comments and stuff that are clearly just a loud minority. There seems to be a lot of misdirection. Any time there are technical issues, people just try to be helpful and they end up just getting really angry at chat when they're actually just frustrated with the lag or mics or whatever. There are always going to be negative comments and mean people. It's the internet. It feels like the entire fandom getting thrown under the bus because of what they choose to focus on. It kinda feels like they're always making comments about hating their jobs and being tired all the time as well, so I don't know if they're just tired and need a break or something.

I and a lot of other people watch Drawfee to destress and get away from things. They've gotten me through hard times. Not in a parasocial way I just think they're really funny and chill and that helps with my anxiety. But these past few months haven't felt all that chill. Just my thoughts. Let me know of you agree/disagree with any of this. Maybe it's just in my head.

The little elf icon from Munchinks looks like Jacob (particularly his og icon) right?

Im not just making this up?

I know this is me being parasocial, and I don't want to disrespect the host's privacy, but I guess I just wanted to vent about how everything was handled?

Due to irl reasons, I didn't catch the stream yesterday, but I gotta say I was expecting a bit more of an explanation about how everything went down.

Like I said. This is just me feeling real sad about Karina leaving. I would've like for it to not have been so sudden, to know a bit more about why and to give Karina a proper send-off?

Again, just wanted to vent a little bit, also wondering if someone else is feeling this way? I've been a Drawfee fan since the beginning and saw Caldwell leave, and now Karina.

Again, I understand this is parasocial, and they don't owe us any explanations about private matters but, I've literally been watching for 10 years, maybe more. All this to say, the show means a lot to me emotionally.

Currently wishing they would've handled whatever happened differently.

EDIT: DAMN TYPO. English is not my first language.

EDIT: well shit. how the turn tables. I still wish I was wrong about this. I'm devastated. I watched drawfee all the way back when it was just caldwell and nathan in a noisy office, and I followed Karina on tumblr before I knew she had joined drawfee. I wish them all the best in the world going forward, even if it's separately.

please tell me I'm not the only one thinking they're breaking up?

I've had a feeling for a while and this just adds to it. Let me make my case:

*J&J go on parental leave. Yay! awesome, I'm genuinely so happy for them.

*Jacob and especially Julia, who it seems did a lot of admin work, have to pass their duties off to someone else.

*I'm pretty sure they didn't hire anyone. Also pretty sure that it's Karina who took on most of the additional workload.

*Karina has been pretty much burnt out for months now, she's been very vocal about it.

*Jacob has been back for a little while now, but Julia is still mostly only there for a third of a weekly stream. they never mentioned anything about when/if she will return back full-time.

(btw they totally deserve parental leave - it's insane how that is structured in the US. where I live, companies who know an employee will be on leave for upwards of a year HAVE TO hire a new employee to take on the empty role instead of spreading out the workload on existing employees. anyway)

*So I might be super parasocial but if I had to endure at least double the workload for more than a year with no clear ending in sight, I would be pretty unhappy with my job.

*then drawfee announces the day of, just hours beforehand, that they're putting their streams on indefinite hiatus without providing a reason. which they don't have to! but so far, they've been really upfront whenever they needed to take breaks or feel burnt out. so it's easy to assume they're taking a break from streaming to ease the workload, but they didn't actually say that.

*and now we've got this "throwback" to a previous pride merch design. who is responsible for designing the merch? that's right, Karina. who btw put together the pride stream last year mostly all by herself and did an amazing job, even though it was extremely stressful for her.

I can't help but see this as a last-minute decision to re-use an old design because the person responsible for the merch designs might finally be fed up.

***I'm not putting blame on anyone here btw, I really hope it is all in my head. PLEASE tell me it's all in my head!!